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Japan eyes startup visa program

asia.nikkei.com

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Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#71

Post by glandium »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #46
paulsutter wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shinsei was easy to work with (for a business account), have English language online banking and telephone support. Never had an issue with foreign transfers. Does help to have a Japanese friend who can help when opening the account, etc, and it’s important to find accounting and legal help that speak English.

Shinsei is the most foreigner friendly bank in Tokyo, bar none. They're known for it, and they make their services convenient -- go there. Initially you might have some trouble with the Address/Phone Number/Bank Account requirements, because they're almost all required at nearly the exact same time, making some weird pseudo requirement stalemate but here's what you do: 1. Get a place to live (likely through some onli…

IIRC, you now get the "foreigner card" during immigration. You still have to register at the local ward, though.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#72

Post by ekianjo »

titanix2 wrote: post #37
cdancette wrote: post #2

France has the same thing, valid for 4 years. http://visa.lafrenchtech.com/

Yes but why would you ever want to move there to create a startup? Not only you have to deal with enterprise related problems such as fiscal instability (rules changes almost every years, see for example how the auto-entrepreneur status changed over time), the URSSAF, a bureaucratic and slow administration but you have also to deal with a lot of issues on a personal level such as insecurity, terrorism, frequent riots…

> I would rather deal with the Japanese administration, which asks for ridiculous amount of documents but does its job. And a country with working services (transports, post) is also a big plus.

Among developed countries, certainly France is in the best choices available, but as many pointed out in this thread, Japan, while having highly reliable services, is also kind of a late adopter for many technologies and often goes in trends that are quite different from the rest of the world.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#73

Post by psergeant »

whatyoucantsay wrote: post #69
Keyframe wrote: post #22

Wait, what are the benefits apart from 'we let you stay here and do your business and here are some lawyers and maybe a good word here and there'? This is absurd.

It's safe. There are fewer homicides in the entire country of 125 million than just the city of Chicago each year.

Homicide rate seems a ridiculous rate to use; I suspect the homicide rate per 100,000 startup founders is a rounding error of — for example — road traffic accidents.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#74

Post by pwim »

fermuch wrote: post #52
benguild wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For personal accounts Shinsei is fine. For business, not so much. They only do Japanese speaking, they require IE for certificate pinning I believe, and a lot of banks charge extra for online banking even. Rakuten Bank is the best for startups I think, but you still need a Japanese speaking person in the company.

Please excuse my ignorance, but why would you start a business in a country you don't understand its language? Doesn't sound logical to me, except if there's a big part of the country that doesn't speak that language or something bizarre like that. (this is a serious question, but I'm unable to phrase it this late in a way that doesn't sound like I'm trying to provoke you)

In Tokyo it is possible to get a job as a software developer without speaking Japanese. After living here a couple years someone decides they like life here, but want to run their own business. Maybe they want to run a SaaS or something that targets a global audience. For visa purposes, they need a Japanese company.

By this time they’ve maybe picked up up some basic Japanese but aren’t fluent. Becoming fluent in a language is quite challenging, especially if you’re working full time in an English language environment. Even without fluency, it’s possible to enjoy life here.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#75

Post by ekianjo »

whatyoucantsay wrote: post #69
Keyframe wrote: post #22

Wait, what are the benefits apart from 'we let you stay here and do your business and here are some lawyers and maybe a good word here and there'? This is absurd.

It's safe. There are fewer homicides in the entire country of 125 million than just the city of Chicago each year.

Yes, very safe indeed. It can be quite fun when you are in your 20s, if you live in big urban centers (night life, etc.) - but it's also an impenetrable society. Not being Japanese will place barriers around you in many aspects of the society, sooner or later (even if you are fluent in the language). It's important to be aware of this.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#76

Post by timr »

glandium wrote: post #71
hardwaresofton wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shinsei is the most foreigner friendly bank in Tokyo, bar none. They're known for it, and they make their services convenient -- go there. Initially you might have some trouble with the Address/Phone Number/Bank Account requirements, because they're almost all required at nearly the exact same time, making some weird pseudo requirement stalemate but here's what you do: 1. Get a place to live (likely through some onli…

IIRC, you now get the "foreigner card" during immigration. You still have to register at the local ward, though.

You get the card at the airport, but it's useless without the stamp. Can confirm that the dependency graph stated by the parent is a (the?) correct way to navigate the system. The only thing I'd modify is that you can save money by bringing your own phone, and getting a phone+data SIM card from Bic, which you can set up on a recurring plan with a foreign credit card.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#77

Post by pwim »

jswizzy wrote: post #58

Good luck with that. I would advise against it having been stationed in Japan, in Yokosuka, on the first Nuclear vessel forward deployed ever. It's an awesome place for tourists but it will never be a place that anyone who is not 100% Japanese can call home. You will always be an outside over there.

Having lived here a decade, I consider it my home. While I’ll never be considered Japanese, I do find acceptance in society here.

Japanese society classifies people as insiders or outsiders. The key I’ve found is to become active in some community where you can become an insider. For instance, I’ve been active in the Japanese Ruby community where I’ve found acceptance.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#78

Post by contingencies »

nihonde wrote: post #26
arvinder wrote: post #9

>Based on the New Business Implementation Plan, Fukuoka City officials will conduct a review on the progress of startup businesses founded by entrepreneurs who utilized this system and received approval for his/her Business Manager residential status. There will be three review sessions during the six-month period, of which at least one session will be held either at the entrepreneur’s place of business or residence.…

Try opening a business bank account in Japan. Or any bank account for that matter. Be prepared to start every handwritten form over if you make even the slightest error, and I hope you’ve been practicing your kanji. No credit cards or foreign transfers until you’ve got a few years in your business. Capital requirements. It’s a whole different ballgame, for better or worse.

It's not as bad as Hong Kong. I had to visit seventeen (17) banks and spend over USD$10,000 to get a bank account for our company over the last 1.5 years. I did everything from opening accounts in the same banking groups overseas to renting needless physical offices. None of it helped. Finally I got accepted by a startup bank with a special KYC process approved by the HKMA. Hong Kong accountants and other professional services firms privately report that their business is down immensely. It's the US' fault and they've announced in The Banker a month or two ago that they're preparing to roll back pressure, but the damage has been done.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#79

Post by [deleted] »

nihonde wrote: post #26
arvinder wrote: post #9

>Based on the New Business Implementation Plan, Fukuoka City officials will conduct a review on the progress of startup businesses founded by entrepreneurs who utilized this system and received approval for his/her Business Manager residential status. There will be three review sessions during the six-month period, of which at least one session will be held either at the entrepreneur’s place of business or residence.…

Try opening a business bank account in Japan. Or any bank account for that matter. Be prepared to start every handwritten form over if you make even the slightest error, and I hope you’ve been practicing your kanji. No credit cards or foreign transfers until you’ve got a few years in your business. Capital requirements. It’s a whole different ballgame, for better or worse.

[deleted]

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#80

Post by fiblye »

jswizzy wrote: post #58

Good luck with that. I would advise against it having been stationed in Japan, in Yokosuka, on the first Nuclear vessel forward deployed ever. It's an awesome place for tourists but it will never be a place that anyone who is not 100% Japanese can call home. You will always be an outside over there.

Of course soldiers are considered outsiders. I doubt people stationed in Korea or Germany will be going on about how they felt like true locals either.

The biggest hurdle is the language barrier. People treat you like kids when they think you're just a typical tourist, but once you're past that hurdle, it quickly gets to the, "How can you not know this basic thing? All of us Japanese know it" point. At that point, you're the one reminding them that you're a foreigner.

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